We went walking in Glenveagh yesterday. It is a walk we have done many times but this time we took a notion and walked it backwards, beginning at the end and ending up at the beginning. What has always been a nice walk was transformed. Coming from a height, down now towards the lake, with…
I should actually be on a plane now, rather than sitting at my desk writing. If it were not for Covid-19 I would be on my way back from Kentucky, having attended the wedding of my God-daughter. As it was, we watched the wedding streamed live on Facebook so that friends around America and family…
God becoming human invites us into a radically different relationship with the world where everything and everyone matters writes Bairbre Cahill As we approach Advent this year perhaps there is an opportunity to dig deeper into the idea of incarnation, to explore it, to reflect upon it. I would like to offer you four themes…
We had a liturgy of remembrance recently for those who have died over the past year, brought via Facebook into the homes of those in the parish and further afield. One of our own, a man from the parish shared his reflections on the death of his wife six years ago and of his son…
I had checked the readings for the Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time and it was the psalm which caught my attention. It was beautiful and I decided it would be a good basis for writing. Then today, as I sat down to write, I realised that we won’t have those readings because it is…
My mother-in-law Agnes used to hate the dark nights drawing in, the changing of the clocks, the prospect of winter. I can understand that many people may feel like that and that this year may feel even more challenging. Perhaps that is why the timing of Pope Francis’ new encyclical seems to me to be…
I have just had the privilege and delight of being bean an tí for an online discussion panel about how as families and parishes we can care for creation. On the panel were Bishop Alan McGuckian of Raphoe Diocese, Nóirín Lynch Director of the Margaret Aylward Centre for Faith and Dialogue in Glasnevin and Jane…
When the issue of climate change comes up there can be a very natural reaction to step away, saying: “This has nothing to do with me, it’s up to the governments, the energy producers.” Pope Francis however sees it differently. He invites each one of us to an “ecological conversion”. Now just what does he…
There is a clematis in flower along our fence, big, rich, flouncy purple flowers. The sepals are feathery with a darker purple rib running the length of them. At the heart of the flower are stamens, purple merging to an almost lime green. Next to it is a hydrangea. Lilac-fading-to-white florets surround a head of…
I have just spent a very interesting afternoon with a very diverse group of people, over 350 of them! Amongst the countries represented in our group are Kenya, Peru, USA, Uganda, India, Australia, Nigeria, Philippines, Burundi, Vietnam, Pakistan, Britain, Nicaragua and Ireland! We are doing online training as Laudato Si’ Animators with the Global Catholic…